Polari Prize ‘paused’ following author, judge withdrawals

In the UK, the Polari Prize organisation has announced that the 2025 awards are ‘paused’, reported Book Brunch.

This follows news earlier this month that more than half of the shortlisted authors and two judges withdrew from the prize in response to the longlisting of John Boyne. The author had aligned himself with JK Rowling in an article for the Irish Independent, describing himself as a terf.

In a statement about the pause posted to Instagram, the prize organisation said, in part, ‘Polari is not and has never been a trans exclusionary organisation. These are not our values, and we condemn all forms of transphobia.’

Noting the distress and anger in the literary and LGBTQIA+ communities caused by Boyne’s longlisting, the organisation added, ‘We have decided as a result to pause the prize this year while we increase representation of trans and gender non-conforming judges on the panels for all the awards and undertake a governance and management review to include our aims and values and work to better support everyone within our LGBTQ+ Polari community.’

Initially, the organisation responded with plans to conduct a ‘full review’ while continuing to run the 2025 awards.

The Polari Prize has been running for 15 years, beginning with the Polari First Book Prize in 2011. The prize for an overall book of the year was added in 2019, followed by a children’s and young adult prize last year.

Category: International news